BLACKBURN unveiled a statue of Jack Walker before kick-off and if the club's former owner had been alive today he would have loved this performance.

Walker would have revelled in this goals bonanza as Blackburn left no-one in any doubt that they intend to stay in the Barclaycard Premiership.

Incredibly, before this game the best goals' tally Blackburn had managed this season had been two.

But against a hapless West Ham side, they made a mockery of that statistic as they finally scored the goals manager Graeme Souness has felt their play has deserved all season.

The rout began in the 18th minute when Blackburn scored the first of a three-goal salvo in nine minutes.

They won possession on the edge of the West Ham area and the chance seemed to have gone when Corrado Grabbi was forced to back pedal out of the area.

But the Italian looked up and picked out Garry Flitcroft, who had burst into the box, with a deft cross and the Rovers captain headed home his first goal of the campaign from six yards out.

On 26 minutes David Dunn made it 2-0 with a peach of a goal, which no doubt will have impressed watching England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson.

Henning Berg found the England Under-21 captain in acres of space 25 yards out from goal and he curled home a delightful right-foot shot into Shaka Hislop's left-hand corner, giving the Hammers goalkeeper no chance.

Blackburn were not finished yet and a minute later they scored a third from a lovely flowing move.

It was started and finished by Damien Johnson, who deserved a goal for the way he had tortured the unhappy Hammers.

The Northern Ireland international sprinted forward from his own half before feeding Tugay on the right.

The Turk crossed to Grabbi at the back post and he headed the ball back for Johnson to apply the finishing touch from just a yard out to claim his first goal of the season.

The Rovers fans were loving every minute and they taunted West Ham by comparing them to that other team from these parts who play in claret and blue and they chanted: "Are you Burnley in disguise?"

Still Blackburn piled forward and Dunn scorched a 30-yard piledriver just over Hislop's bar.

Paolo di Canio spurned a great chance to reduce the arrears when he failed to get his head to Sebastien Schemmel's teasing cross.

Michael Carrick did pull a goal back on 39 minutes with a right-foot shot from just outside the area to give West Ham a glimmer of hope.

West Ham tried to build on this foothold and for the first 15 minutes of the second half they looked like they could yet turn the game around.

But their finishing let them down and first the unmarked Trevor Sinclair managed to head di Canio's free-kick into the ground and over the bar from just five yards out.